[Organizers] building contra dance

[Paul Pindris via Organizers]

Claire, I have attached a brochure I put together for the contra dance in
Deerfield, NH, for which I took on the responsibility of chief organizer
this season. I am proud to say that this dance has doubled its attendance
since last season, from what had been an average of 35 dancers, to now
consistently drawing 70. I attribute our success to linking our monthly
dances to meetup groups -- online groups, typically of single people,
looking for events of all kinds where they can be active and meet others.
The one issue I had with these particular newcomers was that they were
unfamiliar with contra dance culture, so that there were some minor
instances of bothersome behavior which indicated a need for providing basic
information. I did a bit of investigation online about what other dances
around the country had in place to address similar concerns, and I also
polled my experienced dancers about what they considered important to
include. The end result of my efforts may be a helpful starting point for
you in what you are hoping to accomplish -- 2 pages, printed back-to-back
then folded into thirds, which makes for a compact brochure.

Best wishes with your work!

Paul Pindris

On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 5:05 PM, Claire Takemori via Organizers <
organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I just joined the list.  I’m a new programmer (I book band, caller, sound)
> for South Bay Contra in the Bay Area, CA.  I’m also helping lead the team
> of volunteers that manage the dance.
>
> We are trying to turn our dance into a sustainable one, as the past was
> often only about 20 dancers and it was not making ends meet.
>
> If you have ideas on how to bring new dancers, get advertising at
> colleges/schools,  create a dance that is welcoming and safe, I’d love to
> hear them!
>
> I’m also interested in what signs & policies you have for your dance for
> dancer safety (Creepers, unfriendly comments, etc)
>
> Thank you!   Looking forward to learning from your experiences!
>
> Claire Takemori (Campbell CA)
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list
> Organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/organizers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20160516/ff6a87cc/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: The NEWest Deerfield Contra Dancers' Guide.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 27806 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/organizers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20160516/ff6a87cc/attachment-0001.pdf>